


Earth-19

by allp_wips



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-07-08 05:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19864579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allp_wips/pseuds/allp_wips
Summary: Alex visits Earth-19, and finds a rather different version of Astra.





	Earth-19

Of all the places that Alex expects to bump into Astra on an alternate Earth, a coffee ship isn't one of them.

Granted, this particular coffee shop is built like a fortress, with a barricaded front door, which is followed by two more booby-trapped walls, before Alex manages to break through into the actual establishment. That only makes it slightly better, in Alex's eyes.

"Coffee has been extinct on this world for how many years, did you say?" she asks for the third time, still wondering if she hadn't heard Astra right.

"Forty-nine years," Astra says.

She seems extraordinarily patient about explaining it all, for a woman whose establishment Alex has broken into, scaring all the patrons in the process, although they've gone back to their work at their tables by now. 

Alex shakes her head. "I knew every Earth of the multiverse was different, but this wasn't something I'd expected."

Astra takes that casual mention of the existence of the multiverse in stride, or maybe it's not actually a surprise to her.

"Interesting," she says. "So, you come from a different Earth. That might explain why you thought it was a good idea to break into a coffee shop like a battering ram."

Alex flushes. She's pretty sure Astra had been about to put a bullet through her head, when she'd finally stumbled into the coffee shop proper. The cocked shotgun had certainly been pointing right at the center of her forehead. Then, their eyes had melt, and Astra's fierce expression had changed, and she had put the gun down.

"I'm from Earth-38," Alex says now, to hide her embarrassment. "I'm here because, well... I think an artifact from our world got smuggled here."

"Earth-38," Astra muses. "What do you call our Earth, then?"

"Earth-19," Alex says. "Although I don't know who came up with that order, or what it means, so don't ask me."

Astra seems to accept that. "And what exactly did you expect from our world, when you came gallivanting in here after your stolen artifact?"

"I didn't gallivant, I made a strategic infiltration," Alex protests. "And well, everyone knows Earth-19 is the steampunk world."

Astra looks confused, and her chin tilts up. "Steampunk?"

"It's..." Alex tries to figure out how to explain it, gives up and just waves at the anachronistic coffee machine whiring away behind Astra, "All your machines look like that."

Astra still doesn't look like she understands, and Alex doesn't blame her.

"Anyways," she says. "That's the only thing I knew about Earth-19." 

Astra shakes her head.

"Foolhardy," she says, and then under her breath, "Not that that's a surprise."

"What?"

"Why are you here?" Astra asks, instead of responding. "Surely you don't think I have your artifact."

"I'm here because they told me at the pub that the coffee lady was the only person who'll stand up to Maxwell Lord in this town," Alex says. "And, I'm pretty sure he's the one who stole the Harun-El from my world."

"The what?" Astra asks.

"It's the artifact," Alex says. "I can't go into detail, but let's just say that thing can spell disaster for both your world and mine, in the wrong hands. I need to get it back."

Astra seems to be mulling her words over.

" _ The _ Maxwell Lord, of Lord Industries?"

Alex wrinkles her nose. "It's Lord Technologies, on my Earth."

"Lord Industries," Astra repeats. "He's the one who makes the airships. He was at the town hall just last week, boasting about his newest model."

"Maxwell Lord builds airships in this world?" Alex asks, with some surprise. 

"He attempts to," Astra says dryly. "I've yet to hear of a model of his that has actually managed to stay airborne for more than a minute, and that's a good thing. We've got enough sky pirates to deal with, as it is."

"Sky pirates?" Alex sighs. "They really weren't kidding about the steampunk thing."

She studies Astra, puzzled. 

"I still don't understand how a coffee shop owner can help me with anything."

"When coffee beans went extintct, the only other planet with such a crop was starhaven," Astra says. "Even there, it's rare and just different enough genetically that it can't be replanted here. The export and import of coffee has become the most dangerous business on this planet, over the past few decades. I've been running the imports for this city for the last ten years. That's why Maxwell Lord is afraid of me; he knows I'm the only one in this town with an arsenal of weaponry that can match his own."

Alex stares.

"All this over coffee beans?" she asks, before remembering how rabid DEO agents get, if the K-cups in the break room run out before a refill shipment comes in. "Actually, never mind, that makes a lot of sense."

"Alex Danvers, I trust you," Astra declares. "I believe you when you say the theft of this artifact could lead to disaster for both our worlds. I'll help you get it back."

"Hang on," Alex says. "I never told you my last name."

Astra gives her a strange smile.

"Haven't you wondered, if there is a version of me on your Earth, then it stands to reason that there's a version of you on mine?"

Alex gapes.

"Oh," she says.  _ That's _ why Astra had put the gun down, after she'd gotten a close look at Alex's face. "You know me? I mean, this world's me?"

Astra smiles quizzically again. "Yes, you can say that I know you, in one way or another."

She's staring at Alex in such an odd way that Alex flushes despite herself.

"What?" she asks.

"Nothing." Astra shakes her head. "There's a makeshift bed upstairs. I use it when I'm waiting on an overnight shipment, but you can take it for now. Tomorrow, I'll help you break into Maxwell Lord's factory."

"Just like that?" Alex asks.

"Were you planning to do it tonight?" Astra asks, eyebrows rising. "It's a little short notice."

"No," Alex says. "Tomorrow is fine."

Maybe she should be a little more wary about trusting a woman who had once been her enemy, on her home world. On the other hand, it's been years since then, and even when they were fighting, Astra hadn't been the type to go behind her back. Alex is pretty sure that hasn't changed, here.

She makes her way to the stairs that Astra had pointed to. As she starts her climb, she observes Astra lifting the shotgun back up, and pointing it at a table where a fight has broken out over cards. 

"Cut it out, or I'm stringing one of you out on the wall upside down as an example."

Smiling slightly, Alex shakes her head, and takes the rest of the stairs two at a time. Her search to retrieve the Harun-El has taken her through four Earths so far, but this definitely has to be the strangest of them.

\---


End file.
